After a summer of heated salary negotiations that led to a lawsuit, the cancellation (and subsequent rescheduling) of a table read and a tense week of back-and-forth negotiations, the six adult actors on ABC’s top-rated comedy have agreed in principle to new contracts with producer 20th Century Fox Television.

The end to the messy stalemate allows the fourth season of the Emmy-winning comedy to begin production on time next week in advance of its Sept. 26 premiere. The series is a profit center for both 20th TV and ABC, for which it regularly draws 13.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. In 2011, Modern Family generated $164 million in advertising revenue for ABC, up 40 percent from a year earlier, reports Kantar Media.

Simmering tensions in the battle over the spoils from a wildly successful sitcom boiled over in public Tuesday as five “Modern Family” stars filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox TV amid a stalemate in their contract renegotiation talks.

Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara claim in the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that the original contracts they signed for the show violate California’s seven-year limit on personal service contracts. That legal precedent was established in 1944 after actress Olivia de Havilland waged a long contract fight against Warner Bros.

The other adult star of the series, Ed O’Neill, was not named as one of the plaintiffs but has since joined the litigation in a show of unity with his co-stars.

“We stopped shooting a few weeks ago, so I haven’t been around any of that stuff,” he tells E!. “I honestly haven’t even talked to anyone, this is all, like, hearsay. This is all, like, things that are spinning. I know nothing about it.”

What does he know? The people that are representing the cast of Modern Family are on the case. “We all have really good lawyers who are hopefully doing a great job,” he says.

Emmy darling Modern Family topped the TV nominees for the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which were unveiled Wednesday morning.

The ABC comedy collected five nominations for best comedy ensemble, acting mentions for Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, Julie Bowen and Sofia Vergara. The series from Christopher Lloyd and Steve Levitan had a pair of acting noms in both categories for the second year running, with Burrell subbing for co-star Ed O’Neill and Bowen breaking into the mix this year.

Former K-Stater and Modern Family actor Eric Stonestreet is visiting his old stomping grounds. Stonestreet, who had a week off from filming his Emmy award winning show, spent time talking to K-State students about pursuing their dreams.

He says “I don’t mean to look all Hollywood, this is as Hollywood as I get.” Though he is now a big name in Hollywood, he is not letting fame get to his head, and says the “Little Apple” is where it all began for him .

“This is where I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, pursue my dream of acting. I met my best friends here that are still my best friends and people that I talk to all the time and I had a great time here. There is no place I look that I had awful memories.”

Brothers & Sisters alum Gilles Marini will be hanging with some members of ABC’s Modern Family, TVLine has learned exclusively, in a storyline that is sure to befuddle Cameron and Mitchell.
In a Season 3 episode, Marini will guest star as Julian, a friend of a friend of Cameron and Mitchell’s whom they both assume is gay. That assumption, however, proves to be erroneous when the boys invite Claire (Emmy winner Julie Bowen) on a rare “fun night out” and end up leaving her with Julian –- and in short order it becomes clear that this fella is very, very straight.

Modern Family opened the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards with two big wins in the Best Supporting Actor and Actress for a Comedy categories. Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell, who are husband and wife on-screen, were the winners.